Biography of Rivers Henderson Buford, Calhoun County, FL

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Transcribed from:  The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol. 
III, page 155, 1923.
  
BUFORD, Hon. RIVERS HENDERSON, attorney general of the State of Florida, was a quarter of 
a century ago working as a common laborer in the lumber mills and timber camps.  A resolution 
to become a lawyer was steadfastly maintained during the years, and patient labor was necessary 
to achieve his professional qualifications, and once established in the practice of law his 
career has been accumulating success every year.

Mr. BUFORD was born at Pulaski, Tennessee, January 18, 1878, son of ALBERT and MARTHA BOLLING 
(RIVERS) BUFORD.  His mother, who was born at Florence, Alabama, April 2, 1857, and died at 
Wewahitchka, Florida, December 5, 1900, was through the Bolling line a direct descendant of 
Pocahontas.  Her father, Dr. RICHARD H. RIVERS, D. D., was born September 11, 1814, and 
died June 21, 1894.  He married MARTHA BOLLING COX JONES.  Doctor RIVERS was a noted Methodist 
Divine in the North Alabama Conference, during the war between the states was president of 
the Selma Female Seminary and later became president of Martin College at Pulaski, Tennessee.  
His last work as pastor was in the Broadway Methodist Episcopal Church of Louisville, Kentucky.  
He was a son of EDMONT [EDMUNDS] and SALLY (HENDERSON) RIVERS, and grandson of THOMAS RIVERS, who was 
born in 1789 [9 JUL 1757] at Brunswick, Virginia.  SALLY HENDERSON was a daughter of SAMUEL and BETSY 
CALLOWAY HENDERSON, and a descendent of the distinguished HENDERSON family that came to 
Virginia from Scotland at the very beginning of Colonial settlement.

ALBERT BUFORD, now living retired at Marianna, was born October 26, 1855, and was a farmer in 
Tennessee until 1882, when he moved to Wewahitchka in Calhoun County, Florida, and for a 
number of years practiced civil engineering and surveying and also did a large amount of 
work for lumber companies as a timber cruiser.  He represented Calhoun County in the Legislature 
in 1891, is a Methodist and a Knight of Pythias.

RIVERS HENDERSON BUFORD spent his boyhood in Calhoun County, and had only a public school 
education.  At the age of sixteen he was earning his living working in logging and lumber 
camps.  He took up the study of law at Tallahassee with FRED T. MYERS, and on being admitted 
to the bar in 1900 began practice at Blountstown, where he remained until 1902.  In 1901 he 
was elected to represent Calhoun County in the Legislature.  From Wewahitchka he removed to 
Marianna, and still has his legal residence in that city.  He practiced there with Hon. 
WALTER KEHOE and with Hon. W. H. PRICE.  In 1903 he removed to Quincy and was engaged in 
general practice with Hon. W. H. ELLIS, now a justice of the Supreme Court.  The firm of 
Ellis & Buford continued for two years, and in 1905 it became Buford and Campbell.  In 1907
Mr. BUFORD formed a partnership with Y. L. WATSON.  In 1909 he was appointed prosecuting
attorney of Gadsden County, but resigned that office in 1911 to return to Marianna and resume 
his private practice.

In 1912 Mr. BUFORD was elected states attorney of the Ninth Judicial District.  This district 
was divided in 1915, and he continued to serve as states attorney for the Fourteenth Circuit 
until he resigned in 1920.  In that year he was elected attorney-general of the state for the 
term 1921-25.

Among his associates Mr. BUFORD is distinguished for the qualities of frankness and fairness 
as well as more than ordinary abilities in his profession.  In his home town of Marianna he 
is a member of the Lodge, Chapter and Commandery of the Masonic Order, and belongs to Morocco 
Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Jacksonville, Florida.  His principal diversion is hunting.  
During the World war he was a member of the Council of Defense, was a Four Minute Speaker and 
a leader in all the drives in Jackson county.

At Quincy in 1904 Mr. BUFORD married Miss MARY MUNROE, daughter of Dr. THOMAS F. and MARTHA 
H. MUNROE.  Her mother is still living at Quincy.  Her father, who died in 1905, practiced 
medicine in Gadsden County for many years, and represented the very finest family of land 
owners there.  The Bank of Quincy was established by the Munroe family and is still owned 
by them.  Mr. and Mrs. BUFORD have five children:  MARTHA, MAXINE, ALICE, BERTHA and ALBERT 
LEWIS.

NOTE:  Information in brackets [ ] are corrections provided by a family relative.

The will of Edmunds Rivers (ancestor of Rivers Henderson Bufords) can be seen at:
http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/fayette/wills/rivers6nwl.txt